France 2013 Chapter 23

 

Another week of searing heat. Another week of enervating listlessness. The fan has worked endlessly, but simply moving away from its cooling arc is enough to bring out the perspiration. We have never experienced anything even remotely like this, although we have been to some very hot places in the world. The difference is that in those other usually hot countries, allowance is made for the climate and the buildings have air-conditioning but of course, where it is usually mild, like this part of France, the buildings are designed to trap warmth and only shops are air-conditioned. And the same applies to our car which was designed for a cool climate and is only equipped with a really efficient heater – not quite the thing for this uncommon season.

Which is not to say that we have spent the whole week indoors again, as we have done before. We still have to eat occasionally, gas for cooking needs to be replenished, fuel is required to run the car, and so it goes on. So every now and again we manage to get up early enough to be in the shops more or less as they open at nine, do our essential shopping and get back to the fan again before the heat really starts.

On one of these infrequent forays into town, we finally stopped to look at something which caught our eye quite a long time ago. Looking like part of an ancient Roman temple, I was convinced that we would discover that it was, in fact, some sort of mausoleum and belonged to an outdated cemetery, but we were wrong. It turned out to be the remains of a water tower built in the 1870’s over a natural spring. A pump raised the water to the tower before it was led to various fountains around the town. The supply was even enough to provide the inhabitants of Eauze with drinking water, making it one of the first towns in France to do so.

Another fairly interesting event is the appearance of flowers on the creeper that has been growing prolifically up one of the verandah pillars. When we arrived here in February, we noticed that this plant had been severely pruned and wondered if it would ever re-grow. Well , it did eventually start sprouting and having once started, it began to grow like a triffid. Tendrils would shoot out overnight and by the end of the day would be reaching for the windowsill a meter away. We were constantly cutting it back and wondering what sort of plant it was. Not being keen gardeners at the best of times, we had to wait for it to flower before we could hope to identify it, and this week, it flowered and now I know that it is a bignonia plant. Now we are wondering if this is normal behaviour for these creepers; I can hardly imagine that anyone would want something as enthusiastic as this in their garden. Imagine going away for a weekend and leaving it untended – there is a strong possibility that it would have swallowed the house before your return! However, the flowers are beautiful and are an asset to the house’s appearance.

Over Thursday, Friday and Saturday, working just a bit at a time, we gradually spring-cleaned the house, made up a bed, bought a few extra groceries and generally prepared ourselves for the arrival of Pieter and Jessica who would be staying with us for a few days en route to the UK. Or should that be ‘re-arrival’? In any case it was a joy to see the familiar black Land Rover come bouncing up the driveway this afternoon bringing with it two rather weary travellers who had come, first by ferry from Mallorca to mainland Spain and then by car from Barcelona to Espas. It had been a long, hot journey along extremely busy roads and they were obviously pleased to reach the house at last. They will be here until the 1^st August which should fill that in some of that ‘spare time’ of ours quite nicely!